Letter: Thank You Bedford Hills Volunteers

A funny thing happened on the way to the tree lighting in Bedford Hills….Would be a great way to start but truth be told a lot of volunteerism happened on the way. 

Most people might think you just switch the button and the lights come on but not in our case this year. We would be remiss if we didn’t tell you and publicly thank a group of people. Hawthorne Brothers Tree Service volunteered to help us hang new lights since our old ones had been destroyed. One would think it's a quick job. Doug was in a bucket truck cutting down the old lights and hanging new ones for over 7 hours (1000 LED lights). 

Dawn White from Meme’s Treats kept him supplied with coffee and breakfast, Albert from Nino’s feed him lunch and Erik Jacobsen ran back and forth to the dump with over 150 lbs. of old lights so he could keep stringing the lights which Al Sulinski oversaw purchasing and going out to get more lights. Thanks to our members supporting our events we were able to purchase them with BHNA funds. 

All the while, Jimmy from Station Florist was decorating the down town area. Twenty minutes before the ceremony started the breaker blew—Bedford Sportsman to the rescue. Maybe doing events like this—or just being an Eagle Scout—Erik Jacobsen had put an extension cord in the car, who calmly ran it to the Sportsman for the event while our Secretary, Whitney Barbera and I were nervously watching the clock. As we were hooking up the PA system we realized it was missing a piece—back to the Sportsman we ran for something electrical off their laptop.

The great news is the event went off beautifully; about 150 people enjoyed caroling by the Bedford Hills Elementary Choir led by Joel Perkins and the Bedford Community Theater.  Meme’s cookies and hot chocolate were definitely a crowd pleaser. Bedford Hills resident and man behind the scene at many BHNA events, Bill Heidepriem, Lead the countdown, as the Board held our breath and said a little prayer that our tree would light. 

And it did! Our very special Santa was delivered by the Bedford Hills Fire Department and handed out candy canes donated by Tara from Pawfection. 

We are very lucky to live in a hamlet where so many people are happy to volunteer in order to bring joy to all.  I am very proud to be president of an organization that’s mission is to help make Bedford Hills a wonderful place to live.  Thank you to all who came out and enjoyed our tree lighting and thank you for all the people behind the scene that make the events happen.

Happy Holidays.

Janet Jacobsen
BHNA President

P.S.: My parents were the ones behind the refreshment table. Local parents should be proud to know that mine were happy to report that  all the kids said thank you.